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Tuesday, 4 March 2014

Buzz-cut Your Bobbles

This could very well be the strangest post you'll read this week, and is definitely the strangest I've written, but today we're shaving our jumpers!! (No, that isn't a euphemism…)

Don't you just hate it when a beloved woolly item goes over to the dark side, and through wear and washing, develops that scruffy pilling, turning your favourite cardi into a bobbled horror! That very thing has happened to one of my favourite black jumpers, which started out life a smart enough piece to dress up with jeans and heels. These days it looks better suited in my dads pile of ripped and concreted ridden work clothes!

Pilling is the effect of loose fibres working their way to the surface, above the weave and grain of cloth, forming little balls or bobbles as we usually know them, from friction and movement whilst wearing and washing. It's a fact of life and a crying shame, but is usually unavoidable. Our poor fluffy belongings.

Fear not though friends, there are ways to solve this and reclaim the soft and neat knit. Quite a few gadgets have made their way onto the high street, with the sole mission of ridding you of bobbles, the most popular machine of wonder is the Bobble Off (poetic justice!). This little hand held gadget is brilliant for a mess free way off whipping of the top layer of messy wool, whilst collecting the bits in a little compartment. I own one of these, but am a lazy sloth who never remembers to buy new batteries… I do, however, have some rather resourceful thoughts from time to time and set to work on a little DIY bobble off, of my own…

The humble razor!! I kid you not, you can shave your jumper free of fluff. I'd advice not to use your best razors for this, just a cheap and cheerful disposable works a treat. Just lay your clothing on a flat surface, start from one area and literally shave off the bobbly bits. You will need a bin nearby to collect the cast off fluff, and some tape would be a clever touch, to pick up any bits you miss. You only need to glide it lightly over the fabric, to catch the naughty wool.

You won't believe the difference, until you try it.

Check it out, from scruff to soft with the stroke of a razor! Money saving, jumper rescuing, easy peasy.

One jumper down, too many to go! My one woman army against evil pilling. Do you have any handy tips that I could use, to rescue or refresh my wardrobe?